Jian Wang

“. . . this is wonderful imaginative playing, with fine recording picking up a resonant bloom without obscuring details – a ‘must’ for any collection."

BBC Music Magazine, London, May 2005 (CD review: Bach Cello Suites)

Jian Wang was born in China into a musical family in 1968. While still an infant he was given a makeshift cello (a violin with a stick placed in it to form an endpin) by his father, a fine cellist. Showing great musical promise (and perfect pitch), Jian soon began studying the cello with his father. In 1978, aged only nine, he entered the Shanghai Conservatory. In June 1979 Isaac Stern made an historic visit to China which was captured in the celebrated documentary film From Mao to Mozart (Oscar Award, 1981) and which introduced Jian Wang to music lovers the world over: the ten-year-old created a sensation playing Saint-Saëns’s First Cello Concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Jian Wang plays a rare 1622 A & H Amati, graciously loaned to him by the family of the late Mr. Sau-Wing Lam.

1982

First American appearances in 1982 as soloist with a group of musicians from the Shanghai Conservatory; he immediately captures the attention of critics and public alike.

1985

With the support and encouragement of both Isaac Stern and Sau-Wing Lam, a Chinese music enthusiast and philanthropist, Wang returns to the USA to study at the Yale School of Music with the renowned Brazilian cellist Aldo Parisot.

1987

Accompanies the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China on its first tour of the US. Their performances of the Elgar Concerto at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Los Angeles result in rave notices from the press. Makes his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

1989

Wang graduates from the Yale School of Music and moves to New York to continue his studies at the Juilliard School. Performs in Paris at a concert to benefit UNESCO, which is televised throughout Europe.

1990

Plays at the Evian Festival and participates in the gala celebration of Isaac Stern's 70th birthday in San Francisco.

1992

Leaves Juilliard to pursue a full-time performing career. Undertakes extensive European tour with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, followed by concerts at Ravinia, Paris, Cuernavaca, Vancouver and Hong Kong.

1994

Forms a trio with pianist Maria Joăo Pires and violinist Augustin Dumay. Together they perform in many prestigious venues, including the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall in London.

1995

Makes debut with the Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado playing the Brahms Double Concerto with Maxim Vengerov.

1996

Appears with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly playing Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto in Amsterdam and also on tour in China. First release on Deutsche Grammophon: Brahms Piano Trios 1 and 2 with Pires and Dumay (Grand Prix du Disque 1997).

1997

CD release of Mozart Piano Trios K. 496 and 502 with Pires and Dumay.

1998

Premieres Philippe Hersant's Second Cello Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier.

Appears in London with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, in Minneapolis with the Minnesota Orchestra under Krivine, in Rome with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia under Wigglesworth and in Tokyo with the Tokyo Philharmonic under Chung. CD release on DG: Brahms Double Concerto, with Gil Shaham and the Berliner Philharmoniker under Claudio Abbado.

2002/03

Makes his debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi. Goes on European tour in summer of 2003 with the European Union Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, followed by recital and concerto appearances at the Ishikawa Festival. DG releases Wang's "Baroque Album", featuring works by Boccherini, François Couperin, Frescobaldi and Monn (with the Salzburg Camerata).

2003/04

Engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille and Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as concerts and recitals in Manchester, Korea, Singapore and Japan, and recitals with Maria Joăo Pires in Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven.

2004/05

Performs concertos with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi and Gustavo Dudamel, and with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard, as well as at many of Europe’s leading venues, including Berlin (Philharmonie) and London (Barbican), in the USA and Australia, and on tour with the China Philharmonic Orchestra. Presents the Bach Solo Cello Suites throughout the USA, Europe and the Far East to coincide with the release of his complete recording.

2006

Plays Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Myung-Whun Chung in France, with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy in Japan and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiří Bĕlohlávek on tour in the Far East; Haydn in Italy and France; Shostakovich in Germany and Finland; Hersant’s Cello Concerto no. 2 in France; the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Ion Marin in Hong Kong; and Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi in Detroit. Together with Augustin Dumay he plays the Brahms Double Concerto in Spain and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (with Jean-Bernard Pommier, piano) at the Montpellier Festival, with further performances of Bach’s Solo Cello Suites in South Korea.

2007

Performs Haydn’s Cello Concerto no. 2 with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland; Schumann with the Camerata Salzburg in Italy and Austria and with the Turku Philharmonic in Finland; Elgar with the Northern Sinfonia and City of London Sinfonia in Great Britain, with the Osaka Philharmonic in Japan and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Singapore; Dvořák with the Orquesta de Valencia in Spain; Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1 with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Gustavo Dudamel in Florence. In April he premieres a cello concerto written for him by Huang Ruo at New York’s Columbia University. Chamber-music appearances include Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet and Sextet (with Gil Shaham and others) in a series of concerts in the USA, including two performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Further performances of the Bach Solo Cello Suites take place in Italy, and the Far East. On his latest CD and download release, Reverie, Jian Wang is joined by Göran Söllscher in a selection of popular melodies and rarely heard miniatures, ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century, arranged for cello and guitar.